NEWS: Bloggers shown door by angry bosses

Blogging has become huge in recent days after bloggers exposed RatherGate and GannonGate. Recently businesses have been firing employees for blogging
either at work or about work, including sensitive documents and information. One incident got a Microsoft employee fired for photographing a rival
companies computers and posting it on the blog they owned.

afr.com
Flight attendant Ellen Simonetti and former Google employee Mark Jen have more in common than their love of blogging: they both got fired over it.

Simonetti had posted suggestive photographs of herself in uniform, while Jen speculated online about his employer's finances. In neither case were
their bosses happy when they found out.

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Bloggers, blogging, and reading blogs has become a new hobby for many people in the past year, and now may becoming a distraction from work. Many
businesses have rules about porn, racist/sexist jokes, but only recently have they had to worry about blogs. In some cases a blog could get the
company itself sued for company spying by the employee.

Blogging is ok, it has uncovered some of the biggest cases in the past couple months. One has gotten Dan Rather fired, the other has exposed the
White House itself using plants at press conferences. But to use company time or to leak sensitive information about the company to blog is wrong.

Employers have the right to protect themselves aswell as theyre company. If somebody is showing sensitive material, the Employer can very well take it
into his own hands. And when it comes down to talking trash about an Employer, well, even if its digital, its still talking trash. A boss could fire
you for saying stuff about him infront of him, and likewise on the internet.

I do fear though that this could turn into a dangerous infringement of our rights in the future. It seems that an Orwellian fictional future is
blending into our own perspective realities. We have to draw the line at one point for when something is too much of an infringement of our own
rights. The day we think our rights aren't legitament, is the day we loose them.

Mark Jen was fired because he disclosed confidential and internal information about Google, in direct contravention of SEC laws. Basically, he was
fired because his information could affect Google on the stockmarket and that the SEC can bring a case against him.

Remember, the First Amendment gives you freedom of speech, not Freedom to duck the consequences of your speech. Blogging is no different to any other
media, you can be fired for speaking out in newspapers or on TV if your employer deems your actions to be derogatory to the company - why shouldnt
they be able to, after all why keep an employee on that has shown publically that they are unhappy with the company.

I agree with what's been previously said...and it brings to mind the humorous refrain used in "The Simpsons"...."Think of the Children!"

Though now, it's as much "Think of the Economy"..or Business, or Corporation...the common denominator is well meaning but ultimately repressive and
dangerous laws. Law does not need to come into effect here.

The MS case? Simple enough. The flight attendant one., I can understand how it works because of existing laws, but I am not a fan of these existing
laws. Too much can be done to "protect corporate image", and "intellectual rights". Besides, you gotta wonder, who was checkin' out the images?
Probably the corporate drone who had her fired.

There are enough laws about this already. Let us pray no more are generated.

I'm against employer power over a person's after hours life, which I believe would have to be an integral part of any attempt to bring tyranny to
America if such an attempt were made. It's too risky to allow.
That being said, there are obvious limits. If you comit a crime related to your job (revealing information, comitting libel against your company (I
think they should have to prove libel in civil court before firing you though) etc then you're gone for sure.
If you break reasonable rules at work (blog at work, read blogs at work) oh well. I'm not going to pay somebody to blog instead of doing their
job.
Last but not least, if you badmouth your employer on a blog you're walking a fine line. You have your freedom of speech but you have to balance that
with common sense. Would you go up to your boss and start slagging him right in his face? No, you'd get fired and nobody in the world would be
sympathetic to you. Karl Marx himself would fire a man for getting out of line with the boss.
There's a fine line called common sense. Unfortunately that's legally obscure, but that's the best way to describe it. You shouldn't be fired for
what you say relating to politics, but you can certainly be fired for slandering your boss.

I think it is more idiotic that people post information on blogs and do so with thier real name. Releasing confidential information or putting the
people you work for in a bad light is similar to biting the hand that feeds you.. its stupid.

But when Companies perform displinary actions on things that occur off the clock dealing with you lefestyle or private life that is wrong. Some
states have laws against it. sadly most do not

Like working at a Pepsi, and then going out and buying a 6 pack of coke after work (with no uniform on) can actaully get you fired, tho they never say
you are getting fired for that.

it is almsot the point we need a Bill of employee rights to protect them from wrongful termination

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